Soraa Inc of Fremont, CA, USA, which develops solid-state lighting technology built on 'GaN-on-GaN' (gallium nitride on gallium nitride) substrates, is to open a new semiconductor fabrication plant in Buffalo, NY. In partnership with the State of New York, the firm will construct a new GaN-on-GaN LED fab that is projected to be operational in 2015 and will employ hundreds of workers. Soraa currently operates an LED fab in Fremont.
"We chose Buffalo as the best location for our new fabrication facility based on several factors, including the innovative high-tech vision and strategy of Governor Cuomo; the ability to attract some of the best and brightest scientists and engineers in the world; and the capacity to tightly control the product quality and intellectual property around our LEDs through our partnership with the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering," explains president & chief operating officer Dr Tom Caulfield. "With the new facility, our LED lighting capabilities will be refined and expanded, product innovation will accelerate, and light quality and efficiency will continue to improve," he expects.
"Under the largest investment in our Buffalo Billion initiative, we are building a state-of-the-art campus to house high-tech and advanced manufacturing companies that will create hundreds of jobs and leverage over a billion dollars in private investment for Western New York," Governor Cuomo says. "This [Soraa] project marks a giant step forward in our Buffalo Billion strategy, transforming a once vacant property into a development-ready site that will create good-paying permanent jobs, make Buffalo an international hub for innovation, and attract more businesses from around the world," he adds.
Soraa was founded in 2007 by University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) ?professors Shuji Nakamura (developer of the blue laser and LED), Steven DenBaars (founder of Nitres) and James Speck (of UCSB's College of Engineering) on the basis that GaN-on-GaN LEDs would produce more light per area of LED and be more cost-effective than technology based on established foreign substrates such as sapphire or silicon carbide (SiC). Now, Soraa's LEDs emit more light per LED material than any other LED; handle more electric current per area than any other LED; and the firm's crystals are up to 1000 times more precise than any other LED crystal, it is claimed.
"Our proprietary GaN-on-GaN LED technology has allowed the company to make ordinary lighting extraordinarily vibrant, brilliant and efficient," claims Caulfield. "Whites look whiter, colors are natural and more saturated, and shadows are crisp and clean. This has fueled sales growth over the past year and created the opportunity to open a new fabrication facility."
